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The three Swedish citizens who visited Help Liberia Foundation Community School in Buchanan last week donated a variety of gifts to the school and the kids.

Students, guests and staff pose behind gifts

As indicated in our last article, the gifts donated by Lena, Anders and P-O included two sets of jerseys for the boys and the girls, 25 pairs of black football boots, 10 pairs of physical education sneakers, pencils, pens, judo clothes, a football, a football pump, some candies, a puzzle map about Sweden, books about Swedish animals, chalk, book bags, copybooks, and many others.

Guests posing with students in their new jerseys

Lena and Anders indicated that the sports shoes were given by a Swedish sportswear business. Elizabeth, too, although she didn’t come on this trip, sent some items with Lena and Anders.

Lena making remarks after presenting the 25 pairs of boots to the school

Besides the gifts given the school, Lena and Anders also made personal donations to two kids whom they are sponsoring in the school – Rita Bryant and Augustine Tarplah.

Lena and Anders posing with one of their sponsored children – Rita Bryant – after giving her special gifts

The school kids, staff and parents expressed gratitude for the items donated and called upon the visitors to continue thinking about and helping the kids in the school.

Staff viewing gifts, as guests and students look on

The school is profoundly grateful to Lena, Anders and P-O, as well as all the other people who contributed to the effort that brought smiles to the faces of the kids at the school.

Lena and Anders display a puzzle map of Sweden, as Paul looks on

View a few photos below (click on a photo to see a larger version).

Less than eight months after a four-person team visited Help Liberia Foundation Community School in Buchanan in March of this year, three persons returned last week to see the school and the children attending it.

Kids are excited about the visit

Those visiting the school were Lena and her husband Anders, who were also here in March, and Lena’s brother, P-O. They arrived in Monrovia on Tuesday, October 29, 2013, and arrived in Buchanan on Wednesday, October 30, and stayed there from October 30 to November 1.

Lena making statements at the welcome program

During their visit, they brought several, various gifts for the kids. The gifts included sets of jerseys for the boys and the girls, football boots, physical education sneakers, pencils, pens, judo clothes, football, football pump, candies, a puzzle map about Sweden, books about Swedish animals, chalk, book bags, and many others.

Paul making remarks at the program

Upon their arrival, the school had a welcome program in their honor. During the program, each visitor expressed their happiness to be in Liberia, especially with the kids, thanking Paul Harry and the staff for doing their best to keep the school running and to help the kids.

P-O interacting with the kids

It is interesting to note that Lena and Anders came to the school wearing the African clothes given them during the March visit, which the kids, the staff and the parents around appreciated.

Anders showing Swedish animals to the kids

At the welcome program, also, Anders, using one of the animal books he brought, showed the kids and the staff some animals found in Sweden, which the kids enjoyed looking at.

P-O making a statement at the program

The guests’ visit at the school was characterized by various activities, indoor programs, gift presentations, judo training, HLF future site visitation, and so forth.

Many of these activities will be written about in individual articles and posted on the website over the next two weeks. Photos will accompany them.

Would you like to sponsor a child at our school?

We have added details of new children who are seeking sponsors to our Sponsor a Student page, please have a look and complete the application form if you would like to sponsor one of them.

Sam Doegolia is one of the children who is looking for a sponsor

Help Liberia Foundation Community School, our school helping to educate underprivileged children in the city of Buchanan, has commenced the 2013/2014 school year, with the school distributing clothes and books among the kids on the first day of school.

A child displays his book; others wait for theirs

The start of the new school year, which took place about three weeks ago, brought together old and new students, as well as old and new staff members.

Interestingly, too, in an effort to put smiles on the faces of the children, the school distributed clothes and reading materials among the children. The distribution exercise was spearheaded by Mr. Joseph Goffa, Vice Principal for Student Affairs.

Children listening to Mr. Joseph Goffa, Vice principal for Student affairs

The children, as well as their parents, appreciated the gesture, as some parents visited the campus to thank the school for the first-day-of-school donations. We are praying and hoping that we will have another successful school year.

Although we have already started the new school year, many children are not in school because their parents are unable to register them or pay their tuition. In fact, as a way of helping the kids and their parents, we accepted a lot of the children in the school without them paying any money because we don’t want the kids to sit at home without going to school all because their parents are poor. Notwithstanding this, a lot of them are still sitting at home, unfortunately. At present, there are nearly one hundred students in the school.

Children at school on day one

However, one very serious problem we are facing at the school is getting money to pay the staff every month. This is our main handicap, as we need about US$500 every month for staff salary. If we are able to raise this amount monthly, then we can use the little funds we collect from parents to take care of other expensive.

At this juncture, therefore, we are sending out this SOS call in the form of a public appeal to all goodwill individuals and organizations that may be in the position to help the school pay its staff, as our inability to pay the teachers regularly could cause them to leave the school, thereby placing the kids’ future in jeopardy, which we do not want to see happen.

Please come to our aid.

More pictures from the day – click on any picture to see a slide show.

Yes, it has been a few months since we last posted information about Help Liberia Foundation Community School.  We sincerely apologize for this. There is a contributing factor.

As you may recall, when our guests comprising Elizabeth, Lena, Marianne and  Anders came from Sweden in March to visit the school in Buchanan, they brought us a camera, which is a great relief because we were really in need of one.

Children outside the school

At the 2012/2013 closing and graduation program held in July, scores of great photos – including photos of the graduating kids and their parents, special guests and others – were taken. However, when it came time to download the photos, everything disappeared from the chip, and we have not been able to retrieve any of them. It has been very heart-breaking, as we always like to publish stories with photos.  We have been told about one or two parents whom people saw taking photos of their kids, but we have not been able to locate them. This has been the holdup for not posting new information on this site, but, as indicated earlier, we really regret the situation and sincerely apologize for it

We can assure you that we have put in the right measures to post new information/articles with photos at least once every month from now on.

Grade 2 children in class

In the meantime, kindly permit us to present some updates on activities/happenings at the school.

1.  The school had its eighth closing and graduation program on Sunday, July 7, 2013, in the edifice of the Jubilee Christian Fellowship. Twenty-six (26) kids graduated from the kindergarten, and four (4) kids graduated from the sixth grade. The program was well-attended. The guest speaker, who sent a representative to deliver the speech on her behalf, was Senator Nyonblee Karngar, the newly elected and first female senator of Grand Bassa County. Her speech stressed the importance of education for people coming from poor background. At the end of the speech, she gave scholarship to two (2) students and she pledged twenty (20) bags of cement toward our impending school construction project.

2. The registration process for the 2013/2014 school year has started and school will have opened by the time we post this article. However, most students have not registered, as parents are complaining of not having money to send their children to school.

K-3 children

3. Before the close of school, the World Food Program (WFP) re-started giving food to the school. We hope they will continue to do so regularly in this new school year.

4. The school received one new sponsor who is sponsoring three kids. Her name is Nancy Incoll, and the kids she is sponsoring are Daniel Kennedy, Mardea Smith and Evelyn David. This is good news in that, because of Nancy’s humanitarian gesture, these three kids will go to school to have a better future.

5. We have carried out some changes in the administration of the school. We have Mr. Varney Gibson, Principal; Mr. Jarvis Krangar, Vice Principal for Instructions; Mr. Joseph Goffa, Vice Principal for Student Affairs, and Ms. Annie Dayugar, Registrar. These staff also teach full time in the school.

Children reading donated books

To conclude, permit us to use this time to thank all those who continue to help the school and the children, especially for the past school year. We thank Mary Smith for her continuous involvement in the work in Liberia, especially for coordinating the school’s websites and her great suggestions. She is a true partner.  We want to thank Mr. David Turner for his continuous support to the school and the kids. He is a great philanthropist to the school. We thank Catherine Gill Jamieson for being the Kids’ Soldier out there, fighting for them day and night. We thank all the good people who helped to collect funds last year to pay the school’s lease agreement for five years. Because of their assistance, we can operate the school for five years without worrying about paying rent. We also thank our four guests (Elizabeth, Lena, Marianne and Anders) who visited the school for one week in March and who brought some gifts for the school. Many thanks, also, to all others who directly or indirectly, whether financially or morally, supported the school and the kids during the past year. We appreciate you all and ask that you continue to think about the school and the children attending it. Lest we forget, we express thanks to the staff, parents and students of Help Liberia Foundation Community School for helping to have a successful 2012/2013 school year.

Articles about the re-opening of school will be posted soon.